Poker Pro MJ Bernstein's Blog
I have long thought casino environments bring out the worst in people. Let's face it, ubiquitous greed for money, which veiled only by the excess one can buy with it, is enough to make anyone with their eyes half open throw up. The interesting thing is that these kinds of things are rarely discussed. Well, they are, but it's mostly behind the curtain. No media outlets ever report on it-and rightly so- because it's not anything that would help grow the industry which provides their advertising dollars. Well, tonight, I say to hell with that. Why not tell things as they are. So, here's a full dose coming up.
After sitting 5-10 cash for 8 hours today, I began to piece together experiences -both current and past- in coming up with an idea of what really makes many players tick. For almost an hour tonight, I listened to a round table discussion of how broke the majority of poker super pros really are. Is this dirty little fact true? Absolutely. Is it anything that most of you that play poker regularly have never heard before, of course not. This stuff gets thrown around all the time amongst us. What I realized tonight is why. The fact is, at least the way I see it, players aren't overly impressed with each others accomplishments. It's actually the opposite, as the reality seems to be that people thrive on each others shortcomings and misery in order to justify some sort of misplaced vulnerability (ego) in their own lives. God, it sounds horrible but I really feel like it's true. I mean, how many times do you hear people say things like, "yeah, he won all that money but he's broke now" or "He seems like he's good, but he's just gotten hit with the deck and really is just a bad player overall." Sound familiar? I have played at casinos all over the country and everyone says the same garbage, even if they are talking about top players. It's really rare that you ever hear nice things said about people. Really rare. It doesn't matter who you are, there is always someone who has something bad to say about you, your play, or any number of vices you may or may not have. It's just a fact.
So, is the whole picture? Of course not. There are a lot of great people in the poker community that a lot of us would consider friends. I think the issue is that some of us take this friend concept too far, and, to a lesser extent, although equally important, look at poker as a team sport. Poker will never be a team sport. You can pretend all you want, but when push comes to shove, and you are up against it, think about who will really be there for you. I think you will find you have a pretty short list, if you have a list at all when it comes to your "colleagues." I have heard some pretty crazy stories from the biggest names out there about how they were let down by the people closest to them when they really needed their help. That's a tough thing to stomach and get through. If you do get through it, however, then I suppose you have taken a big step towards increasing your longevity in this sport. Slow times are inevitable, but having planned backups in place to help yourself out is paramount--i.e., cash reserves, investments, and, most importantly, friends and family who will love you and be there for you no matter what.
As far as my cash game tonight, I didn't play particularly well. Well, I did for about the first two hours, but then proceeded to blow through my profit and 1k of my own money before I finally decided to leave in liu of sitting longer and playing worse. The sad thing is that I should rarely be a loser in this game considering that the level of cash play in the casinos here about as soft as I have ever seen.
Not long ago I told all of you about the great games up in Niagara Falls, but I have to say the games in East Chicago trump those games by a mile. They generally have multiple 2-5 and 5-10 games running and they are all live. From my observations, even the players who probably consider themselves winners in these games can't be. Their main problem is having a major no-fold button issue. This is also known as not understanding correct hand values. Once money is in the pot, they are in it to the end hoping to pick off a phantom bluff that never existed to begin with. Of course, this is where my session went wrong tonight. One thing I have learned over the last couple of years is that it's never enough to even know exactly which two cards your opponents are holding. What's also equally important is what they are likely to do with their holdings. Although I see both things today, there are times -be it very rare- when I still push the action in order to induce the proper fold or raise from my opponents. But, sometimes they just aren't going to yield to the correct play. That's great actually, but that's when it's important to take the bluff portion of your game out. Obv posting a losing session isn't the end of the world, but when the games are this easy, you deserve to beat yourself up for a while. Why lose any money at all. I shouldn't, but I know I can always get it back+ on my next trip over there.
At the end my session, after having pushed my last $250 post flop with two aces against two other opponents and getting one caller, I was slow rolled by one of the players who held a set of fours. Normally, I wouldn't even mention something like this because it's not the first or last time some hero will decide to give me some preamble before taking 20 seconds to roll over a hand like that. Normally, I would forget a guy like this before I even leave the casino because I know a player of his caliber will release all of that money back into circulation and I will get it, whether it's 3rd, 4th or 100th hand. Eventually it will all come back. The reason I thought it worth bringing up is that it just feeds into my point of the environment in which we are all playing. This is why I keep to myself when I am at cash tables and don't say that much anymore. I'm there to rake a profit and that's it. When I'm done, it's back to my family. If I'm playing a tournament, on the other hand, you will def see me talking quite a bit more as the dynamic there is a bit different and sparking some fun conversations during a 12 hour day is sometimes a lot of fun, especially when it's two in the morning and everyone is completely slap-happy, slurring their words and generally making no sense at all. I love that stuff.
Anyway, I think this might be one of the longer blogs I've written and I think it's very different then most of my other posts. Maybe it worth less or more to you, I don't know, but I gave all of you a good idea about what's going on inside my head ATM. There may only be pieces of it with which you agree, but hopefully you can fine some sort of positive take away. Of course, that may be hard on this one, lol. Also, For those of you out there that are genuine people, I always appreciate you tuning in. I'm always happy to talk with any of you at the casino during a tournament series, so feel free to come over and say hi.
Someone sent me this poem not long ago and I thought it would be worth sharing:
" Poker is my dream, but it's our passion. Although we walk different paths to our goals, our experiences are probably not all that different. I am the heroine and you are the villains. We will fight, but that's good. Without each other there is no competition, and there is no poker. Everyday I wake up healthy enough to meet you on the front lines and for that I'm grateful. "
See you at the tables,
MJ
* Please feel free to email me at mjsatellite2421@yahoo.com with any questions or comments |
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Poker legend TJ Cloutier shares tales from the poker trail.
Congratulations to Joe Cada for winning the world championship of poker. Overall he must've played fantastic to get as far as the championship table. Then after he started playing at the final table, his chips dipped very low and he had to really start playing. He got lucky in three pots. Obviously you have to catch some luck when you're at the final table or you have no chance of winning. Whether it's at the start or in the middle or at the end, you have to get lucky a few times. Joe happened to catch all his luck at the last table, which was fantastic for a young man like that. I give him kudos for at least having the guts to move with a hand.
There were one or two hands that I wouldn't have moved with because of his chip count at the time, but Joe did and he caught the right cards at the right time. One time he was down to nothing in the big blind. Buchman brought it in and Joe called his last two million with J-4. Joe was up against 5-4 suited. I don't know why Buchman did that, but he did. Consequently, he doubled Joe up when jack-high won the pot.
Then Joe got his money in with 4-4 and beat A-K. Once more, he made the move: He went back over the top and moved all in with a pair of fours, which was gutsy in case the raiser had a pair. But his timing was right and he doubled up again. Then he was dealt 3-3, the pot was raised, and Joe moved all in again. As I recall, his opponent had 9-9. Joe flopped a 3 and raked in another pot, moving his chips up to over $20 million, putting him back in the ballgame.
In another pot, Jeff Shulman raised with J-J when Joe again was dealt 3-3. Again, Joe took down the pot. Then another man raised with K-K and Joe moved over the top of him for all his chips with 2-2. Of course the kings called-and Joe flopped a deuce to beat him. Now that's pretty good luck, wouldn't you say? Later, Saout lost a big pot against Cada, a pot that had a whole lot of money in it, moving Cada right up there in contention.
At the same time, Darvin Moon showed his inexperience, but he also showed that he has plenty of guts-and I give him credit for that. He continued drawing out on the others when he got his money in with the worst hand. Unfortunately, he got too aggressive and that's what cost him the title.
The three men that I thought played the very best were Buchman, Saout and Ivey. Phil Ivey never had any chips, but he showed his class. One time he laid down J-J when Saout went over the top of him. The way it came up, I probably would've thrown them away, too. Since Saout hadn't shown any speed, I'd have to give him credit for having a hand.
Just like I said in my predictions before the final table, Ivey won pots three times that the others would've shown down and lost. And those pots kept him alive. That's the difference between a real pro and an amateur.
But Ivey got unlucky on the end. One time he had A-Q against K-Q in a pot with Moon and bingo! "Well, here we go again," Moon said, as though he knew he was taking the worst of it. But he drew out on Phil and knocked him out.
Actually, I didn't see any really bad play at this final table. Although the young man who won it got very lucky, he also played extremely well in a lot of other pots that weren't shown on television. So, I can't condone anybody talking negatively about his victory. He managed to get head up against a man who played almost every hand he was dealt. Although Cada started against Moon with the chip lead, Moon took the lead from him with $122 million against Cada's $60-something million. I don't know what happened to his mindset, but Moon just kept firing and firing. Finally, Cada got tired of it and called Moon down.
On the first hand Moon played after getting up to $122 million, he raised with the 8-7 of spades and Joe moved over the top of him. Darvin called. The hand was bet through, but Moon wouldn't release the hand. He just kept calling-and gave the lead back to Cada. It's too bad, really, because Darvin put on a good show, although his inexperienced showed through on the end. On the final hand, Darvin raised with the Q-J of diamonds. Joe came over the top and Darvin called before the flop for the rest of his money, about $60 million. When he didn't catch either of his two overcards, he lost the pot to Joe's 9-9 and it was all over. The youngest person ever to win the Main Event, Joe also took home the champion's bracelet plus more than $8 million in real money.
Kudos should be sent to everyone at that final table. I think they all played damn good poker, especially for a group of players that nobody knew, except for Ivey and Shulman, both of whom got very unlucky to go out when they did, and Buchman got unlucky when his aces got cracked.
The fans really got their money's worth this year. If you had been there to see the reactions of the spectators, you'd have seen that everybody got quite a show out of it. I think the four-month delay has worked out well; it's gone over big. I congratulate the whole table-they played super, especially considering their experience, which combined wouldn't add up to even one player's experience on some of the final tables from the early years. Kudos to Joe and all the other men at the 2009 WSOP championship table!
Just one more comment-Jack Effel, the director of poker for the World Series, did a fantastic job announcing the introductions. He was so good, you'd have thought he was a professional. With a tip of my hat to Jack and Joe and all the finalists, this is T.J. signing off to the world from Texas.
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